Recap and analysis of the week in state government and politics
By Ryan Dailey
The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren’s nearly year-long bid to get his job back, after being removed from the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis in August, took another major hit this week.
In a 6-1 decision released Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Warren’s request that the court reinstate him, ruling that the twice-elected Democrat waited too long to bring the case.
Warren in February asked Florida’s highest court to put him back on the job, arguing that DeSantis “exceeded his powers” in the suspension. But the request came after Warren filed a separate federal lawsuit in September challenging his removal from office.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in January ruled that the governor’s suspension of Warren violated the Florida Constitution and U.S. Constitution — but the judge said he did not have the authority to reinstate Warren. A federal appeals court has heard arguments but not yet ruled in the case.
The Supreme Court’s majority opinion, authored by Justice Charles Canady, said the state court has limited power to curb executive suspensions. But Canady also focused on how long it took Warren to seek the Supreme Court’s review of his removal, rather than the merits of his suspension.
“Almost one month after the federal district court issued its merits order — extraneous comments and all — and more than six months after his suspension, petitioner (Warren) finally knocked on this (Supreme) Court’s door and requested our ‘expeditious review,’” the majority opinion said.
The five justices who concurred with Canady’s opinion are appointees of DeSantis. But Justice Jorge Labarga, who was appointed in 2009 by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, wrote a dissenting opinion.
“Given that this case involves the suspension of a then-sitting elected official — for whom a substantial portion of the term yet remains — I am unpersuaded by the majority’s conclusion that Warren’s petition is properly denied on the ground of unreasonable delay,” Labarga wrote.
In his Aug. 4 suspension of Warren, DeSantis accused the prosecutor of “incompetence” and “neglect of duty.” The governor based his punishment of Warren on a letter the prosecutor signed pledging to avoid enforcing a law preventing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The state Constitution gives the governor the authority to suspend elected officials, but the ultimate decision about removal from office rests with the Florida Senate. Senate leaders put Warren’s case on hold, pending the outcome of his lawsuits.
Warren blasted Thursday’s ruling.
“Rather than addressing the substance of the governor’s illegal action, the court cited a technicality and avoided a ruling on the merits of the case. We are extremely disappointed by today’s decision,” Warren said in a statement Thursday.
TRANS CARE RULING
A federal judge on Wednesday ruled against the state in a challenge to Florida’s prohibition against Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in a 54-page decision called the state’s policy “invidious discrimination” against transgender people, ruling that the coverage ban is unconstitutional.
“Same record, same findings and conclusions,” Hinkle wrote, referencing an earlier ruling in a separate case on state restrictions on gender-affirming care for children and adults. “Gender identity is real.”
Wednesday’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by two adults and the parents of two children against the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which runs most of the Medicaid program. The agency last year adopted a rule banning Medicaid reimbursements to health-care providers for “sex-reassignment” treatments, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries.
Hinkle’s ruling addressed only gender-affirming medicines.
The health agency adopted the rule based on a report that concluded such treatment was “experimental” and “not medically necessary,” and thus did not meet the threshold for Medicaid coverage. The report was by researchers who oppose gender-affirming care.
Hinkle found that the state only sought evidence to support a foregone decision to scrap the coverage, saying that the process “was, from the outset, a biased effort to justify a predetermined outcome” and not based on a fair analysis of evidence.
Hinkle also disputed state allegations that many young patients later “regret” using gender-affirming care.
“Regret is rare; indeed, the defendants have offered no evidence of any Florida resident who regrets being treated with GnRH agonists (puberty blockers) or hormones,” Hinkle wrote.
THUMBS DOWN?
The presidents of Florida’s 12 universities are going to have to wait until their request to be allowed to raise tuition for out-of-state students will be considered by the governing body that oversees the schools.
The university presidents and chairs of the dozen schools’ trustee boards made the request in December, citing an influx of applications from students coming from outside of Florida and a desire to “prioritize” students from within the Sunshine State. They also pointed to the last tuition hike for out-of-state students coming roughly a decade ago.
But the proposal was put on pause Thursday during a meeting of the state university system’s Board of Governors.
Eric Silagy, the board’s vice chairman, announced the postponement and said “additional work” is needed before potentially implementing the tuition increase.
Silagy’s comments came shortly after DeSantis addressed tuition during a media event in Tampa Thursday morning.
“We are the lowest in America for tuition and fees in higher-education, and that’s really important,” DeSantis said. “And I don’t think we have done tuition increases in Florida for about 10 years. So, that’s something that’s been very, very significant.”
DeSantis, who is running for president in 2024, has made keeping Florida’s college and university tuition low a pillar of his higher-education policies.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren to get his job back, ruling that the twice-elected Democrat waited too long to bring the case.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The court’s order is a much-needed win for Floridians, amidst a climate where the rights of transgender individuals are being relentlessly attacked by the state.” — Simone Chriss, director of the Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel, on a federal judge’s ruling this week that Florida’s prohibition against Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care is unconstitutional.
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